Sounds like you have an excellent diagnostic doctor! Good luck with the discs and carpal tunnel. Carpal tunnel surgery is a breeze and painless to recover from - I was rock climbing within a couple of weeks...not that I recommend that, I was kind of young and stupid..but I was able to!! - are they going to be doing surgery on your discs? I have never had that problem, but I know my mother has had to have back surgery for herniated discs/bulging and it was a long recovery for her. They didn't catch her problems in time, so she has permanent damage and limitations. Hopefully you're getting it all handled in a timely manner and will be back to as normal as possible soon.